Originally published May 1, 2015

Why do churches do church the way churches do church?

Ever thought about that? Moreover, have you ever thought about why churches take for granted that they have to do certain things or do things a certain way? Is there an unspoken assumption at your church that you have to have a sermon outline in the bulletin (or for that matter, that you have to have a bulletin), that Vacation Bible School is a non-negotiable event, or that the deacons absolutely must wear ties when serving the Lord’s Supper? Has it gone on for so long that now “it goes without saying”?

Don’t get me wrong- sermon outlines and bulletins can be very helpful, VBS is a great outreach, and I’m in favor of more men wearing ties to church, period. And I’m not talking about irrefutable biblical truths, either, such as, “faith in Christ is the only way of salvation,” or “God created the world,” or “women are not to instruct or hold authority over men in the church.” What I’m trying to get at here is that there are lots of church practices, preferences, and philosophies that we take as axiomatic. We never question them. We just assume they’re true. We act on them as though they’re immutable laws of physics or something. And every once in a while, somebody notices this and wants to change things up.

When it’s an axiom that’s been around for a few decades, the people who hold to that particular ideal are often chided (sometimes deservedly, sometimes not) by those who are pressing for changes. They’re called “inflexible” or “enslaved to tradition.” They’re labled as the “We’ve never done it that way before,” or “We’ve always done it this way,” people.

But have we ever stopped to think that, in many cases, the changes people seek to make today are the outmoded preferences of tomorrow? Often, we’re not making the church better or more biblical, we’re just adding a new premise here or trading one axiom for another there. Like rearranging deck chairs on a cruise ship. Or the Titanic.

Let’s take a look at some of those new axioms that have materialized over the last couple of decades and are now assumed to be a “given” when it comes to ecclesiology.

1. Pastors need to “cast vision,” and churches need a vision/mission statement.No, they don’t. Christ is the head of the church, the CEO, if you will. Therefore, He is the only one whose place it is to have a vision for the church and to set a mission statement for it. And He has already done that for us. It was one of the last items on His agenda before leaving earth. It’s called the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

2. Churches have to be attractional.Should you invite people to church? Absolutely. Should you be kind and welcoming to visitors? Of course. But that’s not what “attractional” means these days. Attractional means assimilating church into the culture so that lost people will think it’s a cool and groovy place and will flock through the door in droves. That’s why you see pastors coming out onto a stage and giving a Tonight Show-esque monologue while dressed like a teenager at a concert, churches playing music that sounds like what you hear on the radio (sometimes music that is on the radio) accompanied by bands that mimic whichever artist is popular at the moment, no choirs, no pews, no crosses, no pulpits, no hymnals, but a Starbucks in the lobby. Everything a sinner is used to in his daily life. Everything that will make him perfectly comfortable.

Where is this model of doing church found in the Bible? If you answered, “nowhere,” you’d be correct. The church, by definition, is made up of believers. Christ Himself is what is attractional to people who have genuinely been born again. And when we meet together, we have one purpose: to worship and grow in Him. The Bible never tells the church to make itself look like the world to bring lost people into the church. Christ tells us, believers, the church, to go out and make disciples, to go out into the highways and byways and urge the lost to trust Christ so that His house might be filled…with believers.

3. Church should be fun.Nope, not going to find that one in the Bible either. Worshiping Christ should bring us the deepest joy we can fathom, but that’s not the same thing as rock concert, bouncy house, stand up comedian, outlandish props and gimmicks, music video back up dancers, cash and prizes giveaway, “fun”. Church should be joyful, welcoming, warm, and pleasant. It should also be reverent, solemn, and, often, serious. Worshiping Christ, handling and learning His word, partaking of communion and baptism– these are not frivolous things, and the climate of the church should reflect that.

4. When it comes to the size of a local church, bigger is not only better, but more spiritual.I see articles from denominational leaders and church growth gurus all the time that start with the presupposition that if your church isn’t constantly growing until you’ve reached thousands in attendance and have to go multi-site, you need to get on that problem, pronto. Or that if your attendance numbers are “stuck” around the 200 or 300 mark, it’s a crisis that needs to be addressed. Pastor, you need to do something about that. It’s assumed that you want to do something about that.

Says who? Says people who have made a lot of money selling church growth materials and want to make more, that’s who. The fact of the matter is, mega churches are the exception, not the rule. The average size of a church in the U.S. is 186 people, and 94% of church goers attend a church of under 500 members.

There are many perfectly legitimate and biblical reasons why a local church might be small. Smaller churches foster intimacy in fellowship, accountability in discipleship, and make it easier for pastors to shepherd individuals and small groups. Certainly, a church should welcome any newcomers wishing to join and should seek to minister to the surrounding community, but if zeal for the gospel is in place, there is no shame in being a small church.

5. Our worship music has to be contemporary.Why? No, really. Why does it have to be pop-contemorary style? Because we’ll lose or fail to attract young people? First of all, there are plenty of young people who, believe it or not, like hymns and traditional worship music. Why aren’t we concerned about alienating them? What about the older people who like hymns? What about the young people who like country music, or classical music, or rap, or screamo, or death metal, or opera? How come we don’t cater to any of their musical preferences during the worship hour?

Up until the early ’80’s or so, when you went to church, you expected to sing hymns out of a hymnal. There’s nothing wrong with adding new songs here and there to the church’s repertoire, but there is something wrong with trying to replicate what’s going on in the world in order to entice lost people into the church. When people go to a funeral they expect to hear funeral music. When they go to a fais do do they expect to hear Cajun music. And have you seen how incensed people get when somebody tries to put a fresh spin on the National Anthem? It’s perfectly all right for church music to sound churchy. We don’t need to apologize for that.

6. Leaving a church (or deciding not to join one) because you don’t like contemporary worship music is selfish, petty, and reeks of spiritual immaturity.
Really? I thought you just said we had to use contemporary music to get young people to join and keep them from leaving. Are they selfish, petty, and spiritually immature for having their music preference catered to? Why don’t they have to suck it up and sing hymns? Would you go to a church that used only a genre of music you hate, like rap or opera? Does that make you selfish, petty, and spiritually immature?

It’s time we stopped shaming people for wanting to leave a church that has changed to a genre of music or a worship style that they hate. There will be times in every church when a particular song (or maybe even several) is sung that you don’t like. That’s normal no matter which genre your church uses. But music is a huge part of our worship services, and if, even after making an effort to embrace the music, you are so distracted by the genre that you’re incapable of focus on Christ, you need to go to a church- a doctrinally sound one, mind you – where you can worship.

We make a lot of assumptions about the way we should do church. Maybe it’s time to start questioning some of them.

Don’t correct folks who mean well but say something foolish or unbiblical. Bless their hearts.

There are no jobs in the church which are more important or meaningful than others. Every gift and role is utterly equal. Preaching the Word is no more vital than someone cleaning toilets or setting up tables.

The one in my church that makes me crazy is we must “be relational” in order to get the Gospel out. I agree that having a relationship with someone may make it easier or more beneficial to some degree to witness but we don’t HAVE to have a relationship with everyone we preach the Gospel to. It’s not friendships that save, it’s the Gospel as the Holy Spirit moves. The seed sower threw out seed everywhere, he didn’t just pick on little spot and carefully, slowly and barely plant a few seeds. Again, not saying relationships are bad – I think the Bible supports building a relationship, especially after someone comes to faith so that you can disciple them but it doesn’t support that we must build on a relationship for months/years before we can really reach them with the Gospel. The Church puts too much emphasis on us instead of the power of the Word when it comes to evangelizing.

This is a great post! I just watched a video of Voddie Baucham talking about “Youth Groups/Programs/Ministries”. I have felt the same way about this for years but could not have communicated it so effectively. It is definitely a broken institution.

Michelle, about contemporary music – it’s not just preference, it’s also the loudness of it. For some reason music has become louder and louder, and not just in church. The church is, like it so often does, sadly, mimicking the world. Some people get migraines from it. If you are not used to it loud, you don’t wear ear pods 24/7, the loudness can really get to you. The thing is, is God deaf? Why is the music so loud then? To whom are we singing? Is the focus on the Lord or on us- our musicality, our talent, our sound system, our instruments, etc?

One tradition in some churches is the forced greeting time where in the beginning of the service we are told to stand up and say hello to others around us. Does anybody besides me feel like a four year old being told to tell Mrs. Jones thank you? Why do adult Christians need to be told to greet others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ? And again, it puts the focus back on us, rather than on the Lord. Between that and announcements (usually accompanied by joking around), and a quick, irreverent prayer, it sometimes feels more like a social gathering rather than a time to worship the Lord.

I think of Martyn Lloyd-jones’ church in London. There was no band, graphic display, or worship team. He led the singing of hymns. He prayed and he preached the word. There was reverence and a sole focus on the Lord. Many testified of coming under conviction of the holiness of the Lord in those services. I can’t help but think this is what we need to get back to.

“Real” evangelism “crosses the ocean”. Have we really exhausted our mission field right in front of our noses?

Youth “Gimmickries” – um, I mean Youth Ministries! Seriously? Just preach the Word to these kids. Quit the games.

Women Bible Studies from ladies that “go on tour”? And, of course, the groovy study book comes with a matching pen & stationery and coffee mug as well. Ugh!

You are the only Bible some people will ever see. Hmm…what about Romans 10:17?

I apologize for any sarcasm that drips between the lines – as I am a young believer, saved by God’s grace out of the Roman Catholic church about 4 years ago. I am fed up with the commercialized, hipster, relevant, mass-marketed “Christianity” that the evangelical world has thrown at me since being saved. It is disgusting. God is holy, holy, holy. And Scripture tells us we are to be holy. We are to be sanctified by His Truth and His Word is Truth. Read and study. Pray and worship. Repeat. We grow in our holiness as we gaze upon Him in His Word. Nothing flighty, nor airy, nor whimsical – just pure devotion to understanding and loving the Lord Jesus Christ – who saves sinners – like me.

FYI- I run a monthly feature here at the blog called Testimony Tuesday where readers get to share their testimonies. If you’d ever like to share yours, feel free to write it up and send it to me (MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com).

Amen to all of that! I too am like “why all the gimmicks and games to teach our kids the Bible? Why are we keeping kids at the 3 year old level with Bible study, if there is any study at all? My husband is a math high school teacher and says it’s getting so bad – he’s expected to entertain, have games and fun interactions more and more every year. Much worse when that’s done in the Church.

That the Bible is not enough. That we need a devotional for quiet time, that the women’s ministry must do a Beth Moore study, that our next retreat be about spiritual disciplines…..how about we open up the Bible? It’s discouraging to say the least.

That even though Jesus commended Mary for choosing what is better, they are looked down upon and Martha-types are held up as an ideal. Women seem to think it’s a lazy vs. industrious comparison when in truth it’s a seeking after the things of God vs. being too busy to spend time with God illustration.

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